Inheritance
by Coy Fish
Summary: April inherited a house on Hollow Hill. Now she is subject to a new king that she doesn't believe in.
1. Chapter 1

"I don't think I've ever seen you around here before." April said over the loud humming of techno pop music. After talking to this guy for a while she had run out of things to say, she was never really one for much socializing. The man who introduced himself as Marak earlier spoke, "I should be saying the same to you." He fingered a streak of pink in her hair and smiled. _This guy's costume is really detailed. _He had painted his skin a grayish green color and had black pointed nails. The mass of hair on his head was a dark brown maybe some red in it. With the lighting at the party she really couldn't be sure. He was tall and lean and just her type. April pointed to the two fangs protruding over his bottom lip.

"Are those real? If not you'll have to tell me where you got them, they're fantastic!"

There was some slight pushing from the people dancing at the party. It didn't help that she and her new friend were in the middle of dancing adolescents. Marak hadn't said anything to her in awhile. He wasn't really dancing either, just looking at her and slightly moving, as if he were just swaying to the suggestive music.

April was getting ready to walk off to some new group where the people actually answered your questions, but he started to grin. She was confused.

"What?" He grinned a bit wider, showing off more teeth of less equal size and shape.

"You'll find out sooner or later." She started to get an uneasy feeling from him.

"I'll be right back!"

She left Marak staring after her to go to the bathroom. She ventured down the hallway and up the stairs passing a few hook ups along the way. April opened several doors trying to find the bathroom, after the fifth one she succeeded.

_My god these things keep falling out. _She thought to herself as she pulled out some of the clip on hair extensions. There was a wad of fake pink hair in her hand. April smiled slightly, Marak seemed to be really into her, but now she was getting a weird vibe from him. _Just ride it out, if he ends up being a total weirdo at the end of the night, you don't have to call him. _She straightened her punk rock Barbie costume out and redid her pink eyeliner and lipstick. So far no one at the party could figure out what or who she was, so she gave up on the idea that it was a good concept for a costume. One final look in the mirror and she walked out into the hallway.

There was an eerie silence. The music was gone and she couldn't hear any of her guests. April walked down the hallway slowly expecting a whole group of people to jump out and yell "Surprise!" There was nothing, she could hear nothing. Her pink and black high-heeled boots clacked against the hard wood floors. She walked down the stairs thinking that maybe everyone went crazy and performed a mass suicide in her newly inherited house. _That would be such a nice welcome present. _She thought grimly. April made it to the base of the stairs and she looked around. There was no mess one would expect to find at a house party, but instead order and cleanliness.

"This is a little too weird." She said out loud to herself. There was a slight clicking pop by the door in the living room that lead to a balcony. April looked outside the windowpanes in the door. It seemed as if Marak was the only one still there. She sighed a breath of relief thinking that something severely bad had occurred. She walked across the living room and opened the door.

"Hey Marak." He turned around and she thought his eyes were glowing! April squinted her eyes for a moment.

"Hello April." She walked over to him, but careful to not get too close. _What do I say?_ She grasped at words to try and ask what happened and why did everyone leave without trying to sound stupid.

"Where did everyone go?" He didn't answer.

"Hello, I'm talking to you. It's rude to ignore someone."

"The lake looks very beautiful tonight, does it not?" April was puzzled by his off hand comment.

"Yeah, I guess so." She didn't know what else to say. Obviously she couldn't talk to him because he wouldn't ever answer her questions. They sat in silence for several moments.

Marak spoke, "Tell me how you came to be here. I'm very interested that I've never seen you if you have resided here for quite some time." There was something hypnotizing about his voice that compelled her to speak, if he had asked her to share her secrets she most likely would have.

"I haven't been here that long, only a couple weeks. I inherited this place you know? I don't know how exactly I came to inherit it in the first place, but it was in my great aunts will that I get this place. Hollow Hill, its kind of a weird name isn't it?" Marak's next statement puzzled her even more.

"What if the land here was hollow? The name wouldn't be too ridiculous then, would it?" She thought about it for a moment.

"I suppose not, but wouldn't my house sink under the ground if the ground under it really was hollow?"

He turned toward her and smiled. "Not unless magic held it up." Then he pulled his right hand out of his cloak, but instead of a hand there was a black paw. There wasn't anything right about this situation and her gut feeling told her to run. Without thinking she ran inside the house, across the living room and out the front door. The forest surrounding her house looked menacing and frightful. _I'd rather face wood critters than a freak show. _April took off trying to loose herself hoping that if she didn't know where she was headed, then neither did he. She could hear her own footsteps clumsily breaking branches and trips over vines. She never did see a dark figure closing in on her.

There was a clearing about fifteen yards away. There was a stitch in her side and her lungs burned. His voice rang out all around her, she couldn't pin point it to one spot.

"What if Hollow Hill had goblins under the hill? What if their Goblin King left at night to find a human girl to be his wife?" April was frightened and tears sprang to her eyes. The clearing was only a few yards ahead of her. Her heart sang and it did not matter that her legs felt like jelly or that her throat was closing up with each breath. _Only a few more steps! _She had almost made it! Something jerked her back. She hit something hard. Breath blew raggedly into her ear sending chills down her spine.

"What if the Goblin King chose you to be his wife?" She let out a loud yelp and struggled and pulled. April unzipped her pink shirt and slipped out of his grasp. Her skin prickled being introduced to the night air. She was left in a black tank top and it did nothing to control her shivering. April ran leaving behind an angry Goblin King. She kept running until she had reached the dead center of the clearing, there her legs gave out from under her.

There was an instantaneous laughing from the other side of the clearing. April screamed, even though it pained her to do so.

"Leave me alone! I don't want to be your wife!" She collapsed into the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

"April come to me, stop this silliness now. Of course you're going to be my wife, there's no way around it. Well, not for you anyway." He chuckled at his own joke. She still cried, mascara and eyeliner running and stinging her eyes.

"Leave me alone. I can't do this!" She still protested. His eyes could be seen all the way from where she was.

"Come to me April." His voicing was deep and loud. It shook her to her very core. Against her will, her legs started to stand up and walk to Marak. April tried to stop herself; she struggled and tossed herself on the ground. No matter what she did, the result was still the same. She had made it to the edge of the circle, one more step and she would be in his grasp. April shook her head, tears streaming out of her eyes.

"No please, don't make me do this." A paw and a now scary hand grasped her in a tight embrace.

"You will love my kingdom and my people will love you." April still struggled within his hold, even though her struggling was weak. Marak whispered something, but April never heard it. Soon she was welcomed into the darkness of sleep and slumped on Marak. He pushed some of her blonde hair behind her ears.

"You are so beautiful." He said to her quietly. He then picked her up bridal style and walked, with each step he started getting pulled under then ground, to his kingdom.

* * *

Disclaimer: I own my own characters such as April, and this new Marak who is quite a few generations later than the books. I don't own anything or get any profit from this. Hope you enjoyed! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I hate you." He looked over at his beautiful bride, she was sitting down on what was now their bed. Marak sighed.

"I expected nothing less." He observed her from across his bedroom. She wasn't crying, but she looked extremely fatigued. "But in time, you will learn to love me." After hearing this, April abruptly stood up and gave him a baleful glare.

"I want to go home! I don't want to be here, please let me go. I promise I won't tell anyone what happened." She started ranting and tears poured down her face. April turned around, her back facing him, she didn't want to let him see her cry. His foot steps resounded throughout the room and she could tell that he was getting closer to her. Marak put his arms around her and she collapsed against him.

"You know I can't do that, you're mine now. Give it time and things will get better." April looked up at him, blonde hair hanging in her eyes.

"I don't want to give it time, I want to leave. Don't you understand? I can't live here with these…" She struggled to find the right word. Monsters seemed too insulting and she didn't want to upset the king of them.

"Goblins, my dear, they are goblins." He picked her up and slowly walked to the bed. He continued talking. "They might look fearsome, but most of them aren't." From the time Marak had kidnapped April to the wedding, much of what April thought to be true was starting to be blurred. She was in the beginnings of a mental break down.

I am going to die in here and there's nothing I can do about it, April thought. She was lying there in her shared bed, her new husband had disappeared into what she was guessing the bathroom. He had been in there for about ten minutes, during that time she thought about her so called 'wedding ceremony'. She had been forced to drink something foul which made her literally speechless, her wedding dress was made out of rags, she had chains on her arms and legs, her palm had been split with a knife, and the worst part of it all was the snake. No one had been sympathetic when she tried to scream and all the strange creatures were cheering and her chains were being pulled on to push her forward. No one tried to help her and with being in a strange place, there was no one to care about her.

She felt extreme despair and hopelessness. Marak had been gone for about thirty minutes, but April was not eager to call for her new husband. Instead, she got up from the bed and walked to the door. The door was easily pushed opened, much to her surprise. Quietly she shut the door behind her, as to not alarm Marak. When she looked back, she noticed the guards by the door. Her stomach dropped and tears started once again.

"Please don't let him know I'm gone! Please, I'll do anything, don't tell him!" But they stood there motionless. Not knowing what else to do, she just ran.

Everywhere she turned there were goblins, some had tusks, some had fur, or snouts, or scales. Everything was so overwhelming and soon enough, hey all started coming toward her and smiling or speaking to her in some weird language. April tried to break free from the crowd gathering around her, but to no avail, everyone acted like they were so glad to see her as if she were some sort of celebrity. Soon though, the crowd breaks, but she can't go through it because her husband was coming toward her.

The next scene was a blur, April was using her fight or flight response. Marak had picked her up and she began kicking and screaming. "Get away from me! You don't understand, I can't live like this!" She sobbed and screamed, but that wasn't going to help her. Somehow, he had managed to handle his wife all the way back to his room and tucked her in the bed. By this time she had quieted down, but she was still silently crying. He had taken her in his arms and he starts stroking her soft blonde hair. Slowly she started to fall asleep. In her last moments of consciousness, she heard him whisper.

"Everything is going to be alright, I'm going to be here with you to make sure nothing happens. I know you're scared, but you're a King's Wife and I know that you are going to be a great queen."


	3. Chapter 3

"Why do you love me?" She asked. He laughed at her, he always laughed at her. It seemed everything she did was amusing to him. She repeated her question.

"Why do you love me? You've told me countless times that you do, but why?"

Marak started threading moon lilies through her blonde tresses. "Because you remind me of summer."

"What?" April turned around. "I thought goblins couldn't come out during the day." Marak chuckled and made her sit on the floor with her back turned towards him again "How astute of you my dear wife, but I can go out at night and what I know of summer days that were told to me by my mother. She told me of the warmth of the sun and the passion it brings forth in humans. She told me that summer rains brought life to the world and made everything come alive beneath your feet." Marak continued weaving flowers in her hair.

April asked softly, "How do I remind you of that?" and she turned and looked at him once more.

He cupped her chin, "You are very alive and passionate. Everything you do, from your movement to your concentration is filled with determination." Marak was emboldened by her half lidded eyes and dares a kiss upon her cheek. He smiled when he saw that she didn't cringe from his touch. He leaned in closer to her ear and whispered, "And like the summer, you radiate a magnificent beauty that none can compare to." Marak tiled April's face towards his and kissed her gently. She didn't cringe at that either.

The next morning, alone in bed, April reflected on the past month. _The entire time here has been hell, but Marak has helped make it better. Maybe he understands? I don't know, but things are definitely easier than they were when I first got here. _Then she thought about how he tried to put her at ease after every time she was frightened. After that thought, April remembered what had happened about three weeks after she had been in the underground. Marak had taken to strolling along the vast hallways of his kingdom with her in tow. His people had wanted a queen for so long, and now he would show her off. Also, he wanted her to get used to her new subjects because she was still scared of everyone.

He was holding her hand, watching her face turn paler after every goblin that came up to her and said she was beautiful and that she would be one of he best King's Wives, but of course she didn't understand what they were saying either. To keep her mind off of how scary everything was, Marak started probing her with questions like what was your favorite book, what do you think about politics and so on. He had kept her preoccupied up until they reached their rooms. Marak would always look at her when she smiled because she did it seldom, but more frequent as time went by. Both of them had walked into their rooms and she headed straight to the chair next to the fire. Marak walked to the balcony to over look the building of his kingdom, but every time April looked at him, he appeared in deep thought.

An hour or so had passed and nothing was said between the two. April had gotten up and said "I'm going to bed." and started walking to the bathroom to change. A heartbeat later Marak spoke up, "Me too." After they both had gotten in the bed and it was silent, Marak asked her "What is your favorite flower?" With a yawn she replied, "Moon lilies, why?" He turned on his side and didn't answer. That next morning Marak was gone. She waited and lounged about until the day was spent, and he had not showed up at all. When she had finally gathered enough courage to walk outside to her door to ask the guards if something was wrong, Marak busted through the door in a frenzy.

"Where have you been all day? I was starting to think something happened to you." All Marak did was smile and he brought a basket from behind his back.

"What is it?"

"Just open it."

April opened one half of the lid. Moon lilies.

Now a week later, they had somehow still lasted and Marak had liked to weave them in her hair. And she didn'r mind that he liked to do it either


End file.
